Follow the Money? Yes, and we should be JUST AS VOCAL about splitting JTA into a highway authority and a completely independent Transit Authority. Only two major Cities in the USA have a highway builder trying to operate mass transit, sadly we are one of them! To clean up JTA, we need to kick the highway boys out and DEMAND transit excellence.
The data on Phoenix-Mesa is as follows:
Phoenix--Mesa population MSA......... 3,251,876
Area MSA ...................................................14,598
Density....................................................... 223
Phoenix-Mesa is working on a FIRST CLASS LRT system, not unlike Portland, St. Louis or Salt Lake Cities. While they will spend more for this type of construction, the FTA or Federal Transit Administration estimates it's life as 100 YEARS! The Light Rail Cars are estimated but not mandated to last 35 years, though many Cities operate streetcars today that were built in 1910-1930, and are much older.
How many asphalt highways or elevated concrete bridges will JTA go through with the BRT in 100 years? The answer is, the cost estimates don't even take into account the downside to rubber tire transit. The FTA mandates that ALL transit buses reaching 12 years of age or / 500,000 miles should be retired. The average JTA bus racks up 350 miles a day, which means it will hit the magic number in about 5 years! The low smog hybrid models while nice, also cost between $500,000 and $950,000 dollars each. The FTA is currently under pressure from the bus builders to lower the bar to 8 years/500,000 miles. Another factor is pavement, the Oklahoma Department Of Transportation says that a single heavy truck/bus passing over bridge work creates as much wear and tear as do 85,000 automobiles. On asphalt roadways, any that see heavy truck traffic must be scraped up, and relaid every 5 - 10 years. So if we wait 25 years to build out the BRT system, we will be on our 4Th set of buses, and our 2Nd or 3Rd complete re-pavement of the roadways. Hidden costs no one will talk about.
So if a Light Rail car costs $2 million a piece, Carry's more, doesn't pollute, runs faster, faster acceleration, doesn't need to mix with traffic, uses some current railroad... and lasts for 35-65 years or more, on a track that lasts 100 years.... Which is REALLY the bargain?
No contest, it is LIGHT RAIL!
Ocklawaha
